


Riley

by rq2001



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9301562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rq2001/pseuds/rq2001
Summary: Nothing was going well for Riley. Her life was in shambles. No friends, student loans, crippling stress. Normal things for a collage student to fear. But her life takes a turn for the worst when the dawn of a biblical apocalypse takes shape, forcing her to stay on her toes if she wants to get back to her family. (Season 1)





	1. Chapter 1

The seemingly endless hours of studying took it's tole on Riley. Her own subconscious shot her awake, causing her head to leap off drool covered papers. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she looked around her desk in search of her phone, until finally she pulled it out from under her chemistry notes and clicked it on, checking the time. It was 7:27. Moaning, she dropped back onto her notes, and began banging her head repeatedly until she decided it wasn't worth it making her headache even worse. She had less than a half an hour to get herself ready and go to her eight o'clock class. That was barely enough time to eat breakfast, let alone get herself all the way across campus to her class. Should she just skip class? Sure, she wouldn't get the notes she would need, but she was pushing herself too much these past few weeks. Just one day would be enough. She wasn't being picky.

No, she thought to herself. She was just being a big baby. College is supposed to prepare Riley to become an adult, and no one told her that becoming an active member of society would be this hard. Nothing could prepare her for the real world.

Riley reluctantly got out of her chair and moved into her bathroom, which was just across the room from where she stood. Yawning, she crawled into the shower that was nearly a head shorter than her, and took a cold shower, too tired to realize she was still wearing her socks. After two minutes of washing the grease and regret out of her hair, she decided she was done with her self cleansing. She hopped out and tossed on her black tank top and black pants, pulling her favorite military coat over it. She checked the time. 7:46. Riley didn't know where, but somewhere in the time it took her to get up and take a quick shower, nineteen minutes passed by. If she wanted to get to her class in time, she would have to skip breakfast. But then again, whether she skipped breakfast or not, she was going to be late. She could already tell she was screwed when she woke up, so eating breakfast wouldn't be the worst thing ever. It's like what her favorite expression said. "The sky's the limit when you don't give a shit." Even when she did get there, she could probably find someone who tolerated her and let her snap a picture of their notes.

She went to her box covered in a "fancy" cloth and began enjoying her breakfast, or enjoyed it as much as the stale cheerios would let her. As she slurped the last drop of milk from her bowl, she checked the time. 7:59. Now was as good time as ever. It didn't matter, she would be super late regardless. She stood up and tossed her bag over her shoulder, nearly being pushed into the floor below her under the weight of all her notes, and walked out the door.

As she descended from each step down to the main floor of her residence, her mind flooded with thoughts of what would happen to her over the course of her college career. The deadlines, crippling debt, and constant stress all took jabs at her like she was their own personal punching bag. Riley closed her eyes and tried to move the thoughts of despair away, telling herself that she would cross that bridge when she gets to it. Riley couldn't admit that her first two years at Georgia State University were all that great. Waking up each day and wondering if sacrificing your twenties was worth it wasn't exactly the mentality that she wanted. Honestly there was nothing here she actually wanted. No excitement, no friends, no hobbies. Hell, not even the good education she was promised was here. She missed home. All her friends and family she left in Virginia to get come to Georgia and suffer. She especially missed her uncle. They got along so well you'd swear they were brother and sister. He knew how to speak to her, like they were on a telepathic level. He could be a little rough around the edges at times, but Riley knew it was all fun and games.

Eventually, Riley made her way down the stairs and to the door. She opened it, telling herself that no one was forcing her to do this, and she still had a chance to back out. Giving herself a light slap on the cheek and telling herself to grow up, she opened the door and walked outside. It was chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

Police sirens reigned supreme. Officers and civilians ran were rampant, jogging around, shouting names and pushing others inside school and city buses. Men in riot uniforms carrying large guns that could probably punch a nice sized hole through a wall helped others climb into the buses, while glancing over their shoulders as if they were watching for something.

From behind Riley came her neighbors, holding sleeping bags and frantically talking through their phones. She saw her next door neighbor, Corey, carrying his cat in his hands, occasionally kissing it on the head, telling it things would be ok. Being the only person in her building whose name she knew, Riley called out to him.

"Hey Corey!" She waved him down. He looked up at her, looking like he hadn't slept all night. As he was pushed down the river of people, he stopped by Riley. "Corey, what's going on?" She asked.

"They're evacuating the city." He said, stroking his cat's head. This was news to Riley. What could be happening that was so bad the city needed to be evacuated? Could it be a terrorist attack? That was the only thing that made sense.

"What for?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good. They have some serious equipment out their, stuff that looks like it should be used it Iraq or something."

"How long have they been doing this?"

"All night. They started at two in the morning. Ever since then they've been loading the buses up and taking us to some place."

"Where?"

Corey shrugged and got back in line. Was that old guy with the cardboard sign down the street right? Was the government actually harvesting humans? She slapped herself across the face again, only a little bit harder. That was probably the dumbest things she could have ever thought of. Although no one heard it, the fact that she considered that truth for even a second was embarrassing.

"Ma'am?" Riley jolted back to reality. Someone was calling to her. She looked up. It was one of those men with the large guns, looking like he was ready to fight World War Three. A large black helmet covered his head, and a black mask covered everything below his eyes. Thick body armour that probably weighed a hundred pounds was all over his body, and a frightening machine gun was in his hands. "Ma'am?" He said again.

"Yes?"

"You're gonna have to come with us. We're evacuating the city."

"What for?"

"There's a terrorist attack happening at the edge of the city. We want everyone out so they can be dealt with."

Needless to say, Riley was scared. A terrorist attack? This was the type of thing she would hear or see on the news, something she'd watch and think "Oh that sucks" and never think about it again. But never in a million years would she ever think it would happen to her. Maybe it was because she thought that her life was much too bland for something of this caliber.

In a sick demented sort of way, Riley could twist this into a way she could enjoy. Any situation could be a good one with the right mindset. Like she said before, her life was bland. If it was a spice, it would be flour. This whole scenario might be what she would tell her grandchildren when she's as wrinkled as an elephant slowly dying on a rocking chair, that she was involved in whatever terrorist attack this would be known as five years from now.

"Ma'am?" the soldier asked her a third time, growing a little more impatient. Riley shook herself back to full consciousness.

"Oh, sorry."

"You'll come with me into that bus out there ok? We need to get to a safe space."

"Where would that be?"

"The convention center. It's about a fifteen to twenty minute drive from here."

She nodded. "Can I go pack some things first?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but we need to go." the soldier said, taking Riley's hand and lightly pulling the reluctant college student outside the apartment complex and into the bus. Well, as if she wasn't already thinking about whether this would be exciting or not, she was just denied getting things that had actual sentimental value or overall usefulness. Now, in the event of a terrorist attack, all she had was her backpack full of notes. And not even for anything interesting, like art history or something. It was chemistry, which she didn't even know why she was taking it.

Children crying flooded her ears the instant she stepped on the bus. Already, she wanted off. If she had to choose between a violent death or staying here for another second, then may God strike her down. Every seat was taken, except for one in the back. The far back, where all the popular kids used to sit on every field trip when Riley was in middle school. Seeing as that was her only option, she began to maneuver her way down there, trudging past the sleeping and duffel bags that were spilling off the seats, past the screaming children, and eventually making it the last seat. She flopped down, looking out the window and into her apartment window, taking a last look at it before she left.

Finally, the last of the people in her building squeezed their way onto the bus, with Riley being squished between the window and two others. Two soldiers stood up front, and Riley recognized one as the one who brought her out, seeing as he was holding the same scary looking gun. In no time, the bus was moving, and she closed her eyes, falling asleep, waiting for something interesting to wake her.


	3. Chapter 3

A speed bump shot Riley back to her senses. Quickly, she darted her head around, taking in her surroundings, looking how a cat would a laser pointer. She was still on the bus, still cramped in the far back corner between the wall and two strangers, wrapped up in blankets. They both looked like hell, staring blankly in front of themselves as if they were having a PTSD flashback.

She pulled out her phone, checking to see how long she was asleep for. 8:19 it said. She left her building around eight, and the soldier said the convention center was about fifteen to twenty minutes away, so there couldn't be too much time left until they got there.

Riley's mind flooded with thoughts of what might happen when the bus got there. Just how many other buses were going there? What would the conditions be? How long would they be there for? Would they go to someplace else after? If Riley was sitting anywhere past the middle mark of the bus, she would try and ask the soldier, but she was too far back. She didn't want to shout all the way up to the front, but she couldn't wave them down. The aisle was too flooded with bags that even a mole couldn't dig it's way through it.

Suddenly, the bus came to a screeching halt. Those who were sleeping lifted their heads from their windows and looked around, ready to pack up and hop off. Soon, the quiet bus became Grand Central Station. Neighbors began to chat, and everyone stood up, holding tightly to their bags, and formed a line to get off. Up ahead, Riley could see the soldier she was talking to earlier standing by the door, tilting his head onto his shoulder, listening into his walkie talkie. After a few seconds of listening, she could see he mouthed "copy that" and walked over to the driver, whispering something into his ear, who in turn nodded in approval. The soldier patted his shoulder and moved in the front of the line.

"Hey everyone!" he shouted, waving his hands in the air. "Can I have your attention please?" As if it was a tennis match, everyone's head shifted over to the soldier. "I'm sorry, but we're not getting off just yet. There's a bit of a blockade up ahead, and we're going to have wait a few minutes before we can get going again."

A groan fell over the crowd, and everyone dropped their bags and sat reluctantly in their seat. The bus was quiet again. They waited for a few minutes, and the soldier talked into his walkie talkie again. Riley could hear what he was saying, with no one talking anymore. He asked if everything was good, and then awaited a response. A voice popped out from the other side, saying "Yeah, we're all good here, you're good to go." in a very muffled voice. But before the soldier could give the driver the thumbs up, a shrieking came cackling out of the radio. Gunfire was obvious. The soldier stared blankly at his radio, occasionally squeaking into it, until after all the noise had gone, and the butchered voice came back on, and soon the bus was on the move again.

Another ten minutes passed by, and they still didn't get to their destination. The bus stopped every now and then, with the soldier going through the same actions as he did the first time: Stop the bus, check the radio, maybe hear a loud boom from it, and then move on. This happened for some time. She couldn't imagine why there was so much trouble getting there. There were no cars on the road after finally noticing this after playing with the fog on her window, drawing shapes and stick figures on it. So what could be the reason for stopping so much?

Apparently, she wasn't the only one with this question. Some complaints were already taking shape around the third or fourth time this happened. Riley even eavesdropped in on the conversation between the two people she sat next to, sympathizing with their opinion that a group of soldiers suddenly dropping in and forcing people onto buses and telling them virtually nothing is pretty suspicious. She could tell sooner or later, one white knight would call them out, and God help whoever that was. As skeptical as Riley was, she was not going up to ridicule a man with a machine gun.

It was the fifth stop that finally drove one man over the edge. As the soldier told the driver to hit the brakes until his say so, a man three seats in front of Riley stood up, clearing his throat to gain their attention. The two up ahead turned to him, not expecting anyone to say much of anything.

"Excuse me." the man said sternly. "But might I be the one to ask the question we all have on our minds?" The driver and soldier both raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, sure." the soldier said.

"Why have we been stopping on and off for the past half hour? You told us this place was fifteen minutes away, and I can assure you it's been more than that."

The soldier looked to the driver, and then back to the man, taking off his helmet and lifting up his facemask, showing off his messy stubble beard and sharp face. "I thought we made this clear from the beginning. A terrorist attack is in effect at the edge of town, and we need to move you all to a safe location so everything can be taken care of."

The man nodded. "Yes, I think we understood that part, but you are leaving much to the imagination. For starters, you haven't told us what these "terrorists" are even doing."

"I can't tell you. It's confidential."

"So what you're saying is, you wake us up and move us out of our homes, pack us up in cramped school buses, and take us to God knows where, and you don't even have the decency to tell us what we're up against? I think we all have the right to know."

"It's confidential."

"Do you hear yourself right now?" the man said. "This is happening all around us, and you have the balls to say that we're not aloud to know? I'm merely asking what is happening, and the way you're speaking, you're making it sound as if something suspicious is going on."

The soldier cocked his head to the side, squinting his eyes at the man. "What? You think this is some tin foil hat type thing? That we're trying to sent you to Area 51 to run government tests on you? Why don't you just shut up and let us do our job, ok?" The soldier turned back to the driver, muttering to himself "Do I hear myself? Jesus Christ." He began speaking to driver, while Riley took a look at the man who chewed out the soldier. His face was red, frustrated with the way everything was going.

Riley went to the back of her mind, where she remembered seeing the man a couple seats ahead of her. He lived two apartments over from her, and he was pretty anally-retentive about things. She'd only met him a few times, but he was the type of guy who would ask to see the manager to complain about every flaw he had with whatever he was doing.

True to his nature, the man jumped up from his seat, and pushed past the two poor souls who were condemned to sit next to him. Marching with a pathetic furiosity, he made his way down the aisle, pushing past more people, until he was all the way at the front. Tapping on the soldier's shoulder. He turned around, rolling his eyes the instant he saw the man.

"Excuse me." he said.

"Sir, please sit down."

"I'm not happy with the way you're treating us, mister," he glared down the soldier's name tag. "Mister Dietrich. What's your rank?"

The soldier, Dietrich, rubbed his temples. "I'm a corporal."

"Ok, Corporal Dietrich." the man sneered. "I demand to speak to your CO."

"Sir, just please sit back in your seat. We're about the leave, and we're nearly there."

"No, I want off this bus. I don't care about whatever you say is going on, but I'm not a sheep, thank you very much. I won't just go on the word of some murdering soldier. Open the door, I'm leaving." the man pushed his arm past Dietrich and pulled on the lever, opening the door, and stepped out of the bus. Now, RIley could no longer see what was going on. If she wanted to see the end of this drama-fest, she would have to rely on her hearing.

"Sir, wait! Come back!" Dietrich called, stepping out of the bus as well. He grabbed ahold of the man's collar. "Sir, it's not safe out here. Please, for the love of God, get back on the bus."

Riley didn't hear the man respond, but she heard Dietrich shout again.

"Sir, look out behind you!" Everyone on the bus perked their heads up and began to move around the bus, but the driver, who was a rather portly man, pushed everyone back. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, and everyone jumped. Not a word was heard from the man nor Dietrich, and everyone became worried. The driver looked out the window, and his eyes followed something moving. Slowly, he reached for the door lever, and pulled it open. The doors pulled back, and on came the stubborn man, slowly inching his way back on this bus. Looking like he'd seen things no man should see, he moved back to his seat, with dozens of pairs of eyes following him. Back at the front, Dietrich stepped back on too, looking less stressed than the man was. He nodded at the driver, he sat in his seat and began to drive off.


	4. Chapter 4

The stubborn man didn't complain about anything for the remainder of the drive. He really didn't do much of anything, in all honesty, much to the delight of the those who just wanted to sleep the rest of the ride away. But Riley, and probably a few other passengers, couldn't shake from her mind what the man saw outside that made him so timid all of a sudden. Whatever it was didn't bother Dietrich, at least not on the same level. He acted the same way as before, just a little bit quieter. He walked up and down the aisle, as much as he was able to, anyway, and watched over the passengers. Riley noticed him stop at her for a second longer than most, and then moved on with his watch.

After several more minutes of awkward silence in the bus, it came to a slow stop. At first, no one made anything of it, thinking if they got their hopes up again, it would be a boy who cried wolf situation, realizing that it was just another stop, and soon they would drive off again. But it wasn't that at all. Riley saw in the corner of her eye, more bright yellow buses, pulled up on the side of a curb.

Everyone was relieved, with the exception of the stubborn man. Dietrich opened the door and stood outside. Without saying a word, everyone got the message. They were getting off here. The people packed up their things and began walking off. Of course Riley was in the back, why wouldn't she be? She had to be the one who came off last. It really coincided with everything else that was happening today. Fortunately, she didn't have much to carry. All she had was her useless backpack and her phone.

All the passengers pushed out of the buss and spilled onto the pavement. It was only now when Riley realized how many people actually came with her. There was at least fifty, maybe even sixty. She didn't even know there were that many people in her apartment.

They were all moved from the sidewalk and into the convention center, escorted by people dressed like Dietrich. At the front doors, two soldiers stood guarding them. Before anyone was allowed inside, the soldiers requested that whoever was next in line roll up their sleeves and pant legs without an explanation as why. It was somewhat of a pain for Riley to roll up her skinny jeans, but they inspected her and gave her a thumbs up, letting her inside.

Inside there was even more madness then there was before. But not in a chaotic way. Hundreds of tired civilians looked desperate to leave, all sprawled out among the floor, lying on blanket beds. On person even had their own cot. Riley had no idea how they managed to bring that in here.

"So what do we do now?" Riley asked a soldier. There wasn't any clear answer on what she was to do next. She thought that she'd have to go check in some place or something like that.

"Just find a place to camp for now. Instructions will come later." the soldier said, walking back to the front to escort the next set of civilians. Riley slumped her shoulders and took a deep sigh. Was this really all that was going to happen? Just sit and wait for it to be over? She wanted to protest, but she knew the most logical thing to do right now was to find a space to stay before even more people come. It'd be best to get one while things weren't so chaotic.

She wandered around aimlessly, scouring among the bodies for a place to stay. One place in particular stood out the most to her. All across the room was an open corner, just waiting to be taken. From behind her, Riley heard the doors open and at least a hundred more complaining people pour in. If she wanted that spot, she would have to make a run for it, despite how many enemies she would make by tripping over random people. She made a colossal leap forward, landing in a tiny empty spot with the same gracefulness of a ballerina. She continued, occasionally kicking the head of someone sleeping, until she was meters away from the sacred spot. Swinging her bag off her shoulder, she tossed it to the corner, then jumped to it. "Claimed." she muttered under her breath with a smile. Maybe things would be finally looking up for her.

She leaned up against the corner for an hour, staring at the seemingly endless amounts of people coming in. She was so glad she got such a great spot. She could feel the gray hairs grow as she watched people struggle for space. Over time, only more and more people shoved their way in, and it was only logical to think what they do if they managed to fit the entire population of Georgia in there.

"Baxter!" a voice shouted from the side. "Baxter, come back!" Riley's head darted over to the voice. It was Corey. Riley saw the same doubtful expression on his face that he had back at the apartment. He desperately peered through the crowd, looking worried. He saw Riley and called out to her.

"Hey Riley!" he shouted. "Have you seen Baxter at all? He just disappeared and I'm really worried he might get lost." She shook her head. Trying to call back to him over the sound of all the people would just be too much stress. Corey sighed and went back to his search.

She sat back and watched the center flood with even more people. In no time, Riley couldn't even hear herself think. Children screamed for attention, some people cried because of everything that was happening, and soldiers barked at some people to stay in line. Riley pulled out her phone and untangled the earbuds that were wrapped around it and plugged them in her ears. She scrolled through her music and picked the loudest song she had, and closed her eyes. But as loud music tends to do, it wouldn't let her do anything that involved her being asleep. The ground was too hard to get comfortable, and she was propped up against the wall with no wiggle room. She couldn't sleep if she tried.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught something that seemed out of place. The overall color of the center was depression. No warm colors could be found. The civilian's pajamas, the soldier's black uniforms, and the gray walls. Riley and her nearly all black clothing wasn't helping either. So when she saw the orange blob dart throughout the crowds, she was surprised.

She sat up, wanting to get a better look at the orange blob next time it came up. She pulled out the music in her ears, wanting all her senses on alert. When she thought about it, it seemed pretty stupid to get excited over something that she thought she saw, but there really wasn't much else to do.

Suddenly, the orange blob dashed between the legs of those who couldn't find a place to sit. Quickly, Riley's eyes followed it until it disappeared into the crowd. The shape was clearer now. It was fuzzy, with bright white feet. It was a cat! She didn't have to be a genius to realize it was Corey's, who was now looking for it in the exact opposite direction. It would be torture watching a poor scared boy shuffle around a crowded scared setting just to find his little cat. It would be nice of her to help him. But if she got up, she would lose her spot, the very thing she was lucky to have and that was becoming scarce now that there was a larger influx of people. Would she sacrifice that for Corey of all people? She could say more about American politics than she could about anything related to Corey whatsoever. She didn't owe him anything.

But soon, her sympathetic side overtook her. It was clear that even from afar, that Corey's lip was beginning to quiver. It was a sad sight. When Riley was younger, she accidentally left her back door open and her cat was lost too. She remembered how devastated she was back then, and knew Corey enough to know he had a small pain threshold when it came to small fuzzy animals, yet she didn't even know his last name.

Riley sighed and sat up, swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she made her way down the sea of bodies, keeping her eyes peeled on the orange tabby. It was a fast little devil, Riley even picked up her pace to stay in the same ballpark as it.

Ever so slightly, she was getting closer. Close enough to make it to the shallows of the crowd. She halted when she reached a pair of glass doors, where she cornered the cat. It didn't even notice her at first. It casually walked up to the glass and propped it's tiny white paws on them, bopping on it as if it wanted to catch a fly. Creeping up on her toes, Riley snatched the cat by it's belly, causing it to squee in surprise. She smiled at the cat, and looked up outside the glass doors, where she stared directly into the backs of two soldiers. At first she couldn't see it, but there was someone in front of one soldier, which he in turn treated with hostility. He reached for his sidearm, and Riley felt a tap on her shoulder, making her jump. She whipped around, cat still in hands, and saw it was another soldier.

"Ma'am, please step away from the exits. It's for your safety." he spoke, as a faint pop could be heard from outside the doors. She peered out of the corner of her eye, and saw one of the soldiers bent over, pulling something aside, while the other looked to be on high alert.

"Yeah sorry." she said, still looking back. "Just had to get my cat."

The expression of relief on Corey's face when she brought back his cat was priceless. He looked like a puppy who just found out their owner got home. "Ohmigosh Riley thank you so much!" he managed to sputter out. He nuzzled the tabby, who in turn tapped Corey on the mouth with a fuzzy paw. Riley chuckled at the sight, and again, Corey was on the verge of tears. He propped the cat up and threw fifty more thank yous at Riley.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

Riley shrugged. "Oh, no. Don't stress over me."

Corey thanked her a thousand times more, until finally he wandered off, stroking his cat. Riley smiled at the sight once more and went off to go back to her corner. More people sorted their way into the convention center, and it had nearly reached it's limit. Not stepping on anyone was impossible, and as she walked to her corner, she gave up saying sorry to everyone she kicked.

She made it back to her corner, and not so surprisingly, her spot was taken. A middle aged man sat in his pajamas, armed only with the clothes on his back. He glanced nervously at the side door where Riley found Baxter.

"Hey." Riley said, catching his attention. "I don't want to sound whiney, but you're kinda in my spot."

"Oh, my bad." he responded. "But I really think it'd be better if I stayed."

He response was surprising to Riley. She was somewhat shocked her might decline her.

"Well, again, I don't want to sound like a first grader, but I was here first."

"You shouldn't have gotten up."

"What?"

"If you wanted this spot to keep, you should've stayed in it."

"Hey, I was helping a friend! It wasn't even that long!"

"Oh well. Not my problem."

Riley's nostrils flared. She tightened her hands into fists and took a large step in front of him.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Spot."

The man chuckled to himself. "It's just a place on the floor. Why is it so special to you?"

"Do you see anywhere else to sit here? Who knows how long were going to be here? I'm not standing in one spot for hours."

"Well, I'm not either."

"I don't care. I was here first."

The man stood up close to Riley, towering at least a foot above her. She was caught off guard by his height, but only saw embarrassment if she backed down now. If she ever remembered a childhood lesson, it would be to never show weakness in a fight. Her uncle taught her that when he found out about a bullying problem she had at school. His exact words were "Don't let those bitches walk over you like a welcome mat."

They both got in each other's faces. It was like a game of poker, trying to figure out if the man was bluffing a fight or not. She could feel his smelly morning breath on her face, and nearly cringed at the smell.

"Mark? What's going on?" a feminine voice asked from the side. Both Riley and the man turned at the same time. It was a woman, holding the hand of a tiny boy, most likely her son. The boy look horrible, worse than the stubborn man when he came back inside the bus. His skin was pale, and his eyes were surrounded with dark circles like a raccoon. Immediately, the man pushed past Riley and crouched down in front of the boy.

"Hey buddy. Do you feel any better?" he asked. The boy shook his head.

"No." he murmured. "I threw up in the bathroom."

"Aw, buddy." the man leaned in and hugged the child. "Well, don't feel too upset. When you throw up, it's just your body's way of getting rid of all that bad gunk, so it's actually a good thing."

"But it feels gross."

"I know, but we have to bare with things like that. They may not be good on the surface, but in reality, they are helping you more than you know."

It didn't take long for Riley to put two and two together. While to boy went and threw up in the bathroom, to which the man scavenged for a spot to sit and rest to sick boy.

Only one thought ran through her head: Of course they had to have a sick child. They just had to throw in some extra guilt in there just to make her feel bad for wanting to turn them away. She sighed and turned away, off to go do the impossible and find an empty spot. As the woman comforted her son, the man called out to Riley.

"Hey." he said. She turned around. "Thank you." She put on a plastic smile and walked off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'd just like to say thank you so much for staying with the story thus far! Also I wanted to say that if you're thinking "Hey, where's the zombies?", you can fret not! This is the part of the story where things begin to hit the fan. Please enjoy!

Another soldier jogged past Riley's field of view as she leaned up against the wall. Over the past hour, since she forced herself to move from her corner, six soldiers moved from one side of the convention center to the other, where Riley had found Baxter the cat. As they passed by her, she began to notice subtle things about each one. For example, he only organic body part that was visible on them was their eyes, and each par looked more worried than the last. Another was how they held their weapon. The first one was lax, going at his own pace, keeping his finger over the trigger rather than gripping it. When the second one rolled buy, he moved more swiftly, still keeping their finger hovering over the trigger, but holding the gun more sternly.

By the time the fifth one rolled by, Riley felt uneasy. He was scared, no doubt about that. She could tell he tried to keep his cool by walking at a fast pace, but the fact that he had his machine gun in one hand and his sidearm in the other with the hammer clicked back meant something was up.

"What do you think they're doing over there?" a voice asked RIley. She looked down, where a boy with curly blond hair around her age sat. He wore a blue jumpsuit with a toolbelt on his waist, puffing a cigarette.

"Sorry?" she responded.

"They keep putting the troops over by that specific door. I'm no military strategist, but I have won many games of Risk in my day, so I'll assume that pulling troops from one area and pulling them somewhere else leaving one area wide open isn't the best strategy." he said, taking another puff of his cigarette.

"You think that all because of a board game?" she asked.

"Have you ever played Risk? It turns innocent children into Napoleon and frigging Hitler."

Riley chuckled. "You must've been playing a different version than I did."

"Must have." he said, puffing out more smoke. Riley got a huge whiff of it and nearly choked.

"Should you be doing that in here?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Smoking. It seems kinda rude, and I don't think you're allowed to do that in here."

"There's a terrorist attack in progress and you're concerned about some smoke? I don't mean to sound like a dick, but from one random stranger to another, I think you need to get your priorities in order."

That struck a chord with Riley. She nearly forgot that there was a quote on quote "terrorist attack in progress". She'd seen attacks on the public before on the news, and they seemed like they'd be doing much more damage and causing more panic. What kind of terrorists were these?

"Plus," the boy added. "I think these guys are much too occupied with whatever is going on at that door than me smoking. I'm Donny, by the by." he held out his hand up to Riley. She grabbed it and shook it.

"Riley." she responded.

"Charmed. Want one?" he offered her a cigarette.

"Oh, no thanks. I don't smoke."

"Oh come on. It's just something to take the edge off. I can tell by those bags under your eyes that you're a college student, and no doubt you were up all night studying last night. Trust me, it'll help."

"Wow, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes aren't you?"

"I didn't get that degree from the Yard for nothing."

She chuckled, and looked at the cigarette box.  
"Fuck it." she snagged one from the box. Donny smiled.

"Nice." he held out a lighter and lit Riley's cigarette. She put it between her lips and took a long deep breath. Immediately she coughed, her lungs rejecting the nicotine. Donny laughed, almost like this was the funniest thing he'd seen in a long while. "You've never smoked before, have you?" He said, getting the last few laughs out.

Riley nearly hacked out a lung before she answered. "No." she coughed once more. "Do you have water?"

"Yeah, sure things Tom Waits." He reached down and handed her a bottle of water, which she immediately took and chugged like there was no tomorrow. "I'll remind you from here on out that this might not be up your alley."

Riley took a few more swigs and coughed some more. "Hey, thanks man." She handed him back his water and wiped her mouth. "So, you're a mechanic?" She guessed, judging his outfit.

Donny looked down at his clothes. "Oh shit, I forgot about this. Yeah they rounded me up at like five in the morning and I didn't get a chance to change."

"Yeah they really didn't give us much time to do anything. I mean I'm stuck here with my stupid chem notes and literally nothing else of consequence."

"Chem? Gross. That was the subject that made me drop out of highschool."

"That sucks."

Donny shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I've seen some of these college kids around town, and oh my god, they look like shit, pardon my french."

"True."

"And I've seen people break down in the middle of the streets because of the stress of things like finals and giant ass projects, or debts they'll never pay off."

"Yeah."

"And the price of books, and the stress, and oh god, I mean…"

"I think I got it."

Donny went quiet. "Oh shit, sorry. I'm hitting too close to home. I'm real sorry. Sometimes I just begin to talk and don't know when to shut up."

Riley chuckled, trying to make the situation less awkward. "It's fine."

"I mean, to be fair, look at the grand scheme of things. Me? I'm gonna spend my whole life working on other people's cars and things like that. You on the other hand? You're gonna have that fancy degree of yours, and you'll get a great high paying job, where you'll meet a nice guy, or girl, I don't judge, and you'll have a family or something nice."

Riley had this told to her many times before. That she would get a job, get married, have kids, and retire. And she was certain every time that those words rang through her head that that would never happen. Apart from her degree in English being virtually worthless, she was also just a generally unlikeable person on the surface. That was the hand that life gave her, and now it was her turn to fold or go all in.

Suddenly, the left doors burst open, and the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the center. A dozen heavily armed soldiers fired walked backwards into the crowd of people, spraying bullets left and right into the open doors. Many tripped on their own feet, and fell back, but that didn't stop them from contributing to the bulletstorm. When RIley saw what they were shooting at, she was horrified.

They were human. Or where they? They certainly looked like humans, except for their skin. They were pale, as if they hadn't seen the sun their whole lives. The hair on top of their barely clung to their heads, and their eyes glared around the room, yellow, completely devoid of all color. They glared their rotten teeth at the soldiers and charged.

She watched them intently, as the soldiers fired more and more rounds into their jagged bodies. Nothing seemed to slow them down. Riley picked one of them, what looked like a woman with greasy brown hair. One round punctured her chest and went directly through her heart, yet she walked it off like it was nothing. It showed no signs of pain, no signs of much of anything aside from determination. The greasy woman lashed out a gray arm and grabbed the soldier by the collar and pulled them close. Everyone watched in horror as the woman pushed aside the soldier's neck and bit down, sinking her teeth into her flesh. Blood squirted across the floor. Everyone screamed, except for Riley. This was happening all too fast for her. What was this?

"Holy shit!" Donny shouted. Panic consumed everyone. Without question, everyone darted up and ran around, looking desperately for an exit, and who was Riley to be left out of this? Donny was in the same mindset as she was. He got up and pointed a finger across the room where the second exit was. He recognized the guards that stood there, attempting the lead the people out. "Over there!" he said.

Riley didn't need to be told twice, she bolted to the doors, Donny not far behind, and dove into the crowd. She back at the other doors, those things had gotten past the guards and made their way into the crowd and began, feasting. Riley wanted to throw up. More soldiers moved against the urgent crowd, which didn't help the traffic at all, and began firing at the things. She looked behind her, hoping to see them making progress with dispatching them. But she didn't see that. It was exactly the opposite. They went up to the wounded, people who managed to get away from the things with some scars, and put them down. It was cold. People were crying, begging for someone to help them, and these people went up to them and shot them in their pleading face. What was going on? It was quiet for a few moments, and then BAM. People were being eaten and shot.

The crowd stopped at the doors, and suddenly the flow of bodies stopped moving. Everyone not outside begged that the people at the front moved faster, as the things were getting closer by the minute. One of them was close to her. The smell alone was enough to tell her that it was gaining. Immediately, she heard a hiss from behind her, causing her to shriek and dive into the crowd in front of her, pushing a few people out of the way to get away. Somehow, Donny Still managed to keep up with her. He was running along next to her, holding his arms over his head, as if that was going to protect him.

The line to the door was getting shorter, and those horrible things grew closer. Soldiers squeezed passed the ocean of people, doing their hardest to hold them back. More and more gunshots echoed throughout the centre, all resulting to be just a waste of ammo.

They were making quick work of the soldiers. Their body armour was about as strong as a wet paper bag, especially when a small mob of them piled on one person.

As Riley frantically pushed through the crowd, those things pushed even faster. Taking a quick glance behind her, Riley saw the other door at the opposite end of the room. More poured in. For every one that the soldiers managed to kill, two more took it's place.

A greaser hand latched onto her shoulder, followed by a long hiss. She turned around and saw it. That thing. That horrible thing. It glared at her with yellow eyes, rotten to the core. It's hand was gray, with cracked skin and nails. The skin was whittled down so that each individual bone and vein could easily be seen. It opened its jaw like a snake, showing off it's mouldy teeth and giving Riley a whiff of its breath, making her gag.

Without thinking, she punched it in the gut, which only made it shuffled back a centimetre. If anything, it hurt Riley more than it did that thing. It retaliated, lurching out it's greasy hand at her. She ducked and turned to book it, but she tripped on her own two feet and fell to the ground. The thing hissed at her again, and bent down, grabbing her ankle. She began to kick its face like mad, desperately trying to loosen its grasp. However, her Chuck Taylor's didn't give her the proper strength to do any significant damage. If it wasn't so determined to eat her, she thought the thing might laugh at her and just how pathetic she looked.

Suddenly, the thing was pulled off of her by the collar. It was thrown on its back across from her, flailing its arms like a roly poly. Riley looked up at the force that saved her. It was Donny, his back towards her, holding a wrench from his tool belt. He swung the wrench down, bashing the thing's head into thousands of pieces. "Let's go!" He demanded. Riley didn't need to be told twice.

The convention center was just about empty, and Riley and Donny were the last two people to escape, with those things following them. At the door were two soldiers, urgently rushing the civilians outside. As the two sprinted out of the door, the soldiers waved their guns around, looking at every walking thing that was left, then opened fire.

Instinct fell over Riley and Donny, and they covered their heads as the soldiers fired at the walking things. Riley looked up and saw that not too far from them was a bus, filled with some survivors, with two more soldiers guarding the door. She recognized one of them as Dietrich, as he wasn't wearing his facemask.

Dietrich and the other soldier helped the two on the bus. The only seat left was one near the back door. They swiftly pushed past the herd and sat down in the seat, with Riley noticed her hands shaking a bit. Donny used his own trembling hands to clean off his wrench, and fitted it back in his toolbelt. Dietrich stayed in the bus, watching over all the civilians, and the other soldier stayed on the outside, staring at the two by the center doors, plugging hundreds of rounds into the empty room. Riley and Donny looked at each other, terrified.

"Thank you so much for saving me." She said to him. "I really didn't think I was worth the effort."

Donny just nodded, breathing heavily. Riley could tell thousands of things rushed through his head at once. He just bashed in the brains in of something that might have been a human. It was scarring enough to watch a mass butchering, but to do the butchering yourself, well that was something else entirely.

The entire bus watched the center eagerly, waiting for the soldiers to come out unscaved. They could only see the flashes of gunfire, which overtime, became more and more scarce, until finally, they stopped. Everyone leaned towards their windows, begging silently that the two returned. Suddenly, something emerged from the doors. It was those things, their bodies riddled with bullet holes from the neck down. Onward they marched at the bus, limping as if they just walked out of a gentle breeze and nothing else.

Immediately, the guard by the door opened fire, slowing them down by a inch. After every five or so rounds, one miraculously put them down for good. She stood her ground, looking each of them straight in the eye, emptying clip after clip.

"Valerie, get in the bus NOW!" Dietrich cried out. The soldier ignored him and continued to shoot. Dietrich called his name even more, and the things advanced closer ever so slightly. "Valerie! We, are, leaving!" he screamed once more. The things were now mere feet in front of Valerie, and she stumbled back until she bumped into the bus. There was no escape for her now. The things surrounded Valerie, with her trying her hardest to shoot them as a last stand. She was pressed up against to doorway, making her trip on the stairs, causing her to fall on her back. Instantly, she was swarmed with those things, and they began feasting right in the doorway of the bus.

Dietrich jumped back into the aisle, and whipped out his machine gun, not hesitating for a second to begin shooting. Some died, but most poured even further into the bus, biting and tearing at its passengers. Dietrich struggled to move backwards. He was sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. The passengers behind him pushed and shoved to get out via the emergency exit door in the back, and Riley and Donny were no exception. People piled on top of each other as the horde came closer. They were blocking half of the bus, as whoever was stuck in the far back desperately struggled to open the door. Then, the door swung open and the passengers exploded out of the bus. They all tumbled and rolled onto the parking lot, as only three people made it out, including Riley and Donny. Others were bitten and torn apart by those things, and their lifeless corpses flopped out like an egg on a skillet. Dietrich, being smart enough to know not to fall back out of the bus, hopped out and began firing at those things. Thanks to the two soldiers at the door and Valerie, Dietrich just about took care of most of them. Only two more jumped out to chase after them, but he made quick work of them. Most of them were still on the bus, feasting.

Without thinking, he rushed to the door and swung it shut. Donny sat on the concrete, breathing heavily, staring past everything. The third survivor fell to the ground and began crying, going as far as to curl up in a fetal position. Finally, Riley got off the ground and stood up, looking around at the bodies, taking in everything that happened. "What the FUCK is going on?!" she screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

Dietrich was already pacing nervously back and forth. With one hand, he gripped a walkie talkie, and like clockwork, cried out into it after every other lap. After each plea, he was only met with static, making curse, walk around, and tried again. Riley could tell that he was on the verge of throwing the damn thing.  
Donny still wasn't alright. Mentally at least. What he just did had shut him up for much longer than he was comfortable with. He still held his bloody wrench in his hand, as his whole arm twitched every so often. Riley carefully approached him, not wanting him to freak out. “Hey, Donny,” she gently put her hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”  
At first, he didn’t answer. His arm still trembled, and he looked at the pavement, his mouth slightly open. “No.” he muttered. “I’m terrified.” Riley took a large sigh and went in to hug him. She held her head close to his heaving chest. She knew that what she was doing was strange, to both Donny and herself. But she was terrified as well, and right now, she just needed a hug.  
A large static shot it’s way throughout the parking lot, as a voice finally came through Dietrich’s radio. “Hey, D. You there? Over.” Dietrich jumped, not expecting a response at that moment. His hands scrambled for the button, and he responded.  
“Yeah I’m here. Giselle, is that you? Over.”  
“Yeah it’s me. What’s the sitch? Over.”  
“They got through the fucking doors. It was a massacre. I only have three civilians left. Everyone else is gone. Please, just send a squad here. Some more might come back, and I don’t know if i can take them on by myself. Over.”  
The radio was quiet, and held it by his face, his other hand on his hip. He bobbed his head stubbornly, cursing under his breath. “Giselle, are you still there? Over.”  
“Yeah D I’m still here. Just a minute, okay? Over.”  
“Well I don’t have a fucking minute!” he shouted, not pressing the button on the radio. No voice came the speaker for several minutes. Dietrich began swearing things quietly, like “C’mon you bastards. Answer me!” and “Get us the fuck out of here.”   
“Alright D, I’m back. I talked to the Sarg, and we’re on our way now. We’ll make some room for the four of you, ok? Over.”  
Dietrich took a sigh of relief. “Yeah, thank you so much. Over.”  
“And D?”  
“Yeah? Over.”  
“Remember, if anything happens, if any of those things get near you, aim for the head. That’s the only way. Aim for the head. Over.”   
Dietrich nodded his head. “Yeah. Ok. Thank you. Please hurry. Over.” He put the radio back in his belt, and straightened himself out. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned and faced the other three. “Alright everyone, here’s what's happening.” he said in a strong voice, standing tall.   
Riley, who eavesdropped on Dietrich’s whole radio conversation with Giselle, knew he was just try to put on a facade. He was playing the part of the strong leader, someone who knew exactly how to play their cards. But just like her, and Donny, and probably the third guy, she knew he was scared out of his mind. That he counted down the seconds until his backup arrived. “I've sent for backup. It should take about fifteen minutes for it to come. When it does, you'll all be transported to the university, where you'll all remain until we get this situation handled.”   
“What situation?” A voice shot out. “We just saw an entire room full of hundreds of people get wiped out in seconds! What is actually happening right now?!”  
Riley looked at the source of the voice and saw the third survivor, the one who was crying not five minutes ago. He was what Riley could only describe as knightly, someone who looked like they belonged in a medieval story book. He had long black hair the fell down past his neck, along with a rugged stubble that ran across the bottom of his strong jaw that matched his hair.   
“Sir, please. I understand you’re scared. We all are. But right now, I’ll just need you to remain calm until backup can arrive and take you to a safe space.”  
“Why the hell are you taking this so well?!” the man screamed. “Hundreds of people were just killed before our eyes, and you want us to act like this is no big deal?! What the fuck is going on?!”  
“Sir, please, keep your voice down!” Dietrich whispered scornfully.   
“I will the instant you tell us what the hell is happening!” the man demanded. Dietrich curled his hands up into fists and took in a deep breath, biting down on his lip to keep himself in check.  
“I don’t fully know what the situation is.” he sighed.  
“Then why are you telling us what to do if you don’t even know?!”   
“Because,” Dietrich said, this time with more force in his voice. “I know how to kill those things and you don’t. So shut up and let me explain.”  
“Ooooh shit.” Riley whispered, snapping her fingers in a Z-formation. The man just glared at Dietrich and quieted down. The soldier began to speak again.  
“Anyway, I don’t know, however, that people who do know what’s happening fully have been called and are coming to retrieve us at this moment. So stay close and bare with me, and you’ll all get to safety.”  
“What? You just want us to stay here right next to that room full of those things and sit on our hands?” the man exclaimed, refusing to let his voice not be heard.  
“Sir, I get that you’re nervous, but this is the location where our backup thinks we are. I don’t want to cause any confusion that might lead to a death. As long as we stay quiet, we should be ok.”  
“How do you know that? You just said you didn’t fully know the situation!”  
“I know enough. Quiet down.”  
“Then why don’t you tell us what to do if anything happens? I think it would be effective if the four of us knew what to do as opposed to just yourself, wouldn’t you think so?”  
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Donny and Riley screamed out in unison. The man looked startled, not expecting any backlash from the two, as he assumed they were on his side.  
“Why are you even still talking?” Riley said.   
Just then, as if they appeared out of nowhere, two of those things hobbled onto the scene, hissing and groaning for flesh. The man whipped around and nearly screamed at the sight of them. He stepped back behind, putting two feet of distance between the two of them. “Do something!” he commanded. Riley noticed his left hand was slightly quivering, until he shoved it into his pocket. Dietrich angrily pressed towards the things, pulling out his sidearm and pressed it against one of the thing’s chest. He pulled the trigger, and the gunshot echoed throughed the lot. The thing fell onto it’s back as Dietrich did the same for the second one. The man stepped forward cautiously, but Donny and Riley stayed exactly where they were before.  
“Are they dead? Riley asked. The man got closer to Dietrich and looked over the things, standing between them. He stared down one, looking at it’s still open eyes. It continued to hiss, completely disregarding the whole in it’s chest.  
“How the hel…” the man was cut off, as the one that faced his back sprang forward, grabbing him by the ankles, putting it’s grimey gray fingers into the man’s soft skin, making him fall forward onto the first thing. Dietrich jumped at the surprise attack, than made no hesitation to fire his pistol at the one with the iron grip. All the shots got absorbed into it’s body like a wet sponge. The thing’s face was getting closer to the man, who was screaming for his life.   
Dietrich slammed his boot on one’s head, denting it, then fired a round into the other’s skull, putting it down for good. He lifted his boot off the other one, then grabbed it by it’s collar and pulled it away from the man, then plugged one more round into it’s head. It’s hissing came to a halt, and the man began crying.   
“It’s gotta be the head! Dietrich cursed. “How could I have forgotten? It’s gotta be the fucking head!” he turned to Riley, who still sat with the spaced out Donny, and pointed a gloved finger at her. “You!” he shouted. “What’s your name?”  
“Riley…” she squeaked.  
“It’s gotta be the fucking head, Riley!” he bellowed. Riley nodded in agreement, not understanding what he was going on about. Dietrich turned his attention back to the man, seeing the trail of blood ooze out of his leg. He rushed up to him, kneeling down to inspect the wound.  
“Oh shit.” he mumbled. “Was this from it’s teeth? Did it bite you?” The question barely registered with the man, as he still was still crying, trying to shake off the attack from his mind.  
“Wha..? No I don’t know…”  
“What’s your name?”  
“Uh, it’s Kit.”  
“Kit, this is a matter of life and death. Tell me if that wound is from the teeth now.”  
Kit awkwardly shook his head, scared out of his wits. “No, I think it was from it’s fingers.”  
“You think? Kit, I’m gonna need you to be one hundred percent.” Kit shook his head.  
“Yeah I’m positive it was from it’s fingers.”   
Dietrich took a deep sigh of relief and sat down next to Kit, patting him on the back. “Kit, I think you really dodged a bullet on this one.”   
Riley watched the “heartwarming” moment, letting Donny rest his head on her shoulder. He still had the bloody wrench in hand, which she casually took. He was pretty scared as is after the attack. She doubted he needed to see it again. It probably only held painful memories for him.   
Dietrich scruffed up Kit’s hair then stood up, looking towards Riley and Donny. He gave them a quick smile, which quickly turned into worry. His eyes caught something beyond Riley. “Look out!” he shouted, pointing to something behind her. Her head spun around, her eyes locking onto a cold pair, staring back at her. She saw it was one of those horrible things, hobbling towards her, hissing like a snake.   
Riley made no hesitation to get out of the way. She hopped up onto her feet, and without even thinking, smashed it’s head with Donny’s wrench. She cracked it upside the skull, not quite killing it, but incapacitated it enough to allow her to grab the arm of Donny, who was slowly coming back to reality, and make their escape. She hobbled closer to Dietrich and looked back at the thing, which hoisted itself up and glared back at the four, gaping its mouth wide open and let out a ghastly moan. Dietrich aimed his pistol right between it’s eyes and fired, sending it back on the ground. It’s leg twitched, but it was dead for sure.  
“Hey, you! Over there!” Kit managed to sputter out. He pointed over to the corner of the building, where more of them came around. There had to be at least six or seven of them.  
Immediately, Dietrich began firing several shots at them. He only put down two before the barrel of his pistol clicked back permanently. He ejected the clip and inserted another, giving those things more time to get closer. Riley looked to the opposite side of the center, where she saw more of them shuffle closer. There were too many to count. She gripped the wrench harder, as one that was faster than the others hobbled it’s way out of the horde, getting closer to the four. Gripping the wrench with both hands and raised it high above her head. Then, with careful precision, she swung it down, making the thing’s head explode like a watermelon, sprinkling its blood on her face.  
She wiped it’s fluids off of her face and saw another had its hands outstretched, ready to attack her. She cracked its skull, sending it flying back into another, knocking them down like dominoes. She was surprised with herself. She didn’t think she had the strength to kill something, much less with a wrench. Yet here she was, proving herself wrong.   
This would probably be the type of thing that would get her uncle foaming at the mouth. He was always eager for a fight, and too see his little niece clobber something to death might just make him give her a standing ovation. He was after all the person who gave her advice to stop her bullying problem in grade four. “A simple glove full of rocks could make any problem go away.” he said.  
She continued to bat away more of those things as Dietrich took more shots at his horde. Riley had lost count of how many she had killed, and soon her arms became weary. To lift the wrench back up became a chore, but the motivation to not die helped keep her swinging.   
She didn’t have to turn her head to realize that Dietrich was having troubles of his own. The gun blasts came more often, which meant that either he was missing more or more had come towards them. She didn't like either of those options. The things hounded the four of them, coming in at all sides. They couldn’t escape if they tried. At this point, Dietrich dropped his sidearm and pulled out his rifle, which fired pushed a couple of the back a bit, giving the helpless Donny and Kit some breathing room. Riley’s arms were on fire, and after taking one more swing, she took a heavy breath and dropped the wrench to the ground. She just couldn’t do it anymore. She flopped down and leaned up against Donny, who was now back into reality. His head darted around, looking at the chaos that ensued everyone. As Riley flopped down next to him, he instantly snatched the bloody wrench from her hands and began taking her place, hopping to his feet and smashing the daylights out of those things She heard a click from Dietrich’s rifle, who quickly began using it as bat, smashing in their heads just like Riley did.   
Who was he kidding, Riley thought. It there was just too many of them. This was it. This was the end. She closed her eyes, blocking out the hissing from the things, the crying of Kit, and the sound of brains being scattered across the pavement. “No more college.” She whispered to herself.

 

The next few seconds were a blur. Just as those things got close enough to her, everything got loud, like she was sitting two feet from the amps at a heavy metal concert. The it was dead silent. With her eyes still closed, she heard Dietrich scream “WOO-HOO!”. Opening one eye, she scanned the area, and saw all of those things were dead. Riley, along with the three others, had been showered with blood. Now with both eyes open, she raised her head, confused. Suddenly, a small soldier dressed exactly like Dietrich rushed up to her, kneeling next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.   
“Are you injured at all?” A small feminine voice squeaked out behind the face mask. Riley looked at the soldier, inspecting the smoking barrel of her tiny machine gun. After looking around at Donny and the rest, who were all being helped by various masked soldiers, what had happened became clear: it was the backup Dietrich had called earlier. They had come just in time. “Ma’am.” The soldier asked again. “Are you ok?”  
“Yeah yeah I'm fine.” She sputtered out, looking around at all the chaos that ensued.  
“C’mon, we have to go. There's no time to waste.” The soldier helped bring her back to her feet and personally escorted her closer to the parking lot, where there was a black van sat with its back doors wide open. She was carried inside and sat down on a bench. Then Donny was put next to her, and then Kit. The same tiny soldier who had helped Riley passed out three blankets to each of them, offering a fourth one to Dietrich, who graciously took it, rolling it up into a ball and squishing his face into it.  
“Thanks, Reese.”  
The soldier smiled at him. “Anytime.” She said to him softly. “Hey D?” She asked. Dietrich looked up from his blanket.  
“Yeah?”  
“You ok?”  
Dietrich looked down and shook his head, stuffing his head back into the blanket. The small soldier wrapped her arms around him, and Riley could hear a faint crying come from Dietrich. The small soldier got up and went to the back of the truck, shutting the doors, not before making sure everyone was in. There were three soldiers in the back, excluding Dietrich. Another soldier walked closer to a vent between the trailer and the driver’s seat and pounded it with their fist. Soon enough, they were off.

All the soldier’s flopped down on their seats and individually took off their helmets and face masks. Riley got a better look at all of their faces. Reese, the smallest one, had a short round face. She wore a large pair of glasses that rested on her tiny button nose. The next one Riley saw was another woman, who was in the middle of giving Dietrich a large hug and whispering things into his ear. They both seemed really happy conversing. It was almost as if everything that had happened to him had just been forgotten. This one looked somewhat like Reese, only with no glasses and long sharp raven hair, as opposed to Reese’s short hazel locks.  
Finally, the last soldier in the back was a gaunt. He towered over everyone else, and probably had to duck down a little bit whenever he stood he. He had dark skin and white hair curving around his head like a horseshoe, with a small stubble clinging to his chin. “Dietrich,” he spoke in a deep accent, sending chills down Riley’s spine. The tall soldier held out his hand to Dietrich, who gladly took it. “I’m sorry we didn’t come sooner. It seems we came at the perfect time.”  
“Yeah, thanks for that, Toby. Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t come at all.” He said, with a hint of anger. He, along with everyone else in the truck knew what would’ve happened if the rest of the team didn’t come. Dietrich, Riley, Donny, and Kit would all be dead. The gaunt man, Toby, said nothing in return, making his lips flattened and giving him a pat on the back, then returning to his seat.  
“Ohmigosh are you ok?” Reese shouted, breaking the silence. She saw droplets of blood fall from Kit’s leg. Immediately, she hopped out of her seat and inspected it, rolling up his pant leg in the blink of an eye. All of this was happening too fast for Kit.   
“Wait, wha-”  
“What happened here? Did one of those things catch you? Do you feel dizzy at all? Did they bite you? Tell me, TELL ME!”  
Suddenly, a hatch flicked open that lead to the driver’s seat. “Reese!” a stern voice shot out.  
“What is it?” Reese asked.  
“Can it!” the voice demanded.  
Reese went red in the face and threw on an awkward smile. “Eh, sorry. I guess I can be too loud sometimes can’t I?”  
“All the time. Pipe down, or you’ll call all of those walkers here.”  
“Sorry, Jase.”  
“It’s Kat!”  
“Heh, sorry! You guys sound so similar it’s hard to understand who’s who without seeing your faces.”  
“Yeah, I can see why you’re confused. It’s almost like we’re twins or something.” The hatch shut tight and Reese turned her attention back to Kit.   
“We’re so blessed. We could’ve just had one of them on our team, but no, they had to be twins.”  
The hatch swung back open. “I heard that!” the voice shout back out.  
“What? No you didn’t. That’s half an inch of steel between us and I didn’t even yell!”  
“Ok true, but we’ve known you long enough to know that when we go away you immediately say something behind our backs.”   
“Fuck, you’re good.”  
“Shut up baby I know it.” The hatch was shut closed once more.  
“I swear they have some sort of twin psychic powers. Like they can see into the future or something.” The raven haired girl joked.  
“Like the Shining?” asked Toby.  
“Not really, but that works too!”  
The hatch swung open again. “Are you comparing us to the twins from the Shining?”  
“No…” The raven haired girl muttered with a devilish smile on her face. The rest of the soldiers in the back, even Dietrich, began to smile and snort.  
“Yes you are. Fuck off Giselle.” The hatch closed for a final time. Without hesitation, the entire back of the truck burst out with laughter. Kit seemed lost, still having his pant leg up and his leg bleeding over the floor. Riley and Donny looked at each other, confused. After a solid minute of pure laughter from the soldiers, the fun died down, and Reese still sat by Kit’s bleeding leg, wiping away forming tears.   
“Ah, good stuff. Know, where was I?” she asked. No one answered, thinking it was rhetorical, when in fact, she had actually forgotten what she was doing. “Guys seriously, what was I doing?”   
“Umm, my leg?” Kit piped up.  
“Oh fuck me sideways! Yes that’s it I’m so sorry! How could I have forgotten? God dammit I’m the worst doctor in history!”  
“What about Josef Mengele?” Dietrich asked.  
“Ok fair point, but I’m getting distracted.” She turned back to Kit. “So, was your leg bitten? I really need to know.”  
“I, uh, no, I don’t think so.”  
“It’s just a scratch Reese.” Dietrich butted in. Reese sighed in relief and began pulling out a first aid kit.  
“Well thank GOD.” She pulled out some bandages. “Ok, buddy. You’ll be ok.” She wrapped Kit’s leg, stopping the bleeding.  
“Why? What would’ve happened if I was bit by one of them?”  
“What? Didn’t Dietrich tell you?” She looked at Dietrich, who still gripped his balled blanket.  
“Sorry, I was a bit preoccupied.”  
“Right, true. Sorry. Well, let’s see. How would I put this? When you get bit by one of those things, you get all, like, you know, like gray. And lifeless. You start to lose control of your emotions. You feel crazy, and then you, like, you know.”  
“No, we don’t know.” Riley piped up.  
“Well, erhm, um, you become one of them.”  
“What are they though?”  
“They’re dead reincarnated.” the raven haired girl said.  
“Well you didn’t have to be so blunt about this. I mean we were told to keep this whole thing on the down low.”  
“No, Giselle’s right.” said Toby. “Hush, Reese. There’s no point in being quiet about this.”  
“So that terrorist attack..” Riley asked.  
“These things are the terrorists.” Explained Dietrich.  
“But what ARE they though?”  
“Well, they’re us.” Reese reluctantly explained. “It’s a virus, like a sickness. It gets transmitted by biting. We don’t know where it got started or how, but someone got bit, no one did anything about it, that person bit someone else, so on and so forth.”  
“Well, how do you cure it?” Donny asked. This time it was Toby’s turn to answer. He tapped his finger on his temple.  
“Bullet to the brain.”  
“But like a medical cure. There has to be another way!”  
“That’s what our boys in the lab are working on. Until they come up with a vaccine, this is the only way we know.”  
“Oh my god.”  
“So where are we going to go from here? Is there a safe space?” Riley asked.”  
“Well right now our first priority is getting you three out of here safe. We’re going to the main highway where you can be evacuated with the rest of Atlanta.” Giselle answered.  
“I thought you said we were going to the university.” Said Dietrich. Giselle said nothing and only shook her head. Dietrich understood, as did the rest of the passengers.  
The hatch swung open once more, and this time a pair of eyes accompanied the voice that previously argued with Reese. “Guys, we got some bad news.”  
“What’s the issue, Kat?” asked Toby.  
“Jase.”  
“What’s the issue Jase?”  
Before Jase could answer, a large pounding sound slammed on the back door, making everyone jump. And then there was another slam. And another. So many more came, it began to sound as if they were in a hailstorm.  
“We’re surrounded guys. What do we do?”


End file.
